Preface
OT research part 2. This one has me deep in OT'sThe search for the dancing cake
Let's flashback to the black-and-white olden era of OT when people powered their threads using 240p gifs. Birthday threads were plentiful back then unlike now. So much so, people questioned if there should be a subforum dedicated for them since they were so plentiful that you might almost call it spam. Combing through all those threads took a couple hours, and honestly I gave up after 69 threads.. because not a single one, or almost not a single one, of those threads had a dancing anime girl.efforts from the search
the funny number count is entirely a coincidence, I swear
* community/forums/posts/232852
* community/forums/posts/236325
* community/forums/posts/325189
* community/forums/posts/325194
* community/forums/posts/337276
* community/forums/posts/343137
* community/forums/posts/437262
* community/forums/posts/470372
* community/forums/posts/470399
* community/forums/posts/496990
* community/forums/posts/501673
* community/forums/posts/503539
* community/forums/posts/525712
* community/forums/posts/529294
* community/forums/posts/535463
* community/forums/posts/538629
* community/forums/posts/567962 ??
* community/forums/posts/569094
* community/forums/posts/582088
* community/forums/posts/585328
* community/forums/posts/585333
* community/forums/posts/585341
* community/forums/posts/629453
* community/forums/posts/661828
* community/forums/posts/678813
* community/forums/posts/691405
* community/forums/posts/720367
* community/forums/posts/731985
* community/forums/posts/754484
* community/forums/posts/767550
* community/forums/posts/783118
* community/forums/posts/790303
* community/forums/posts/793410
* community/forums/posts/818951
* community/forums/posts/824197
* community/forums/posts/829970
* community/forums/posts/831825
* community/forums/posts/832620
* community/forums/posts/841454
* community/forums/posts/847877
* community/forums/posts/848934
* community/forums/posts/851754
* community/forums/posts/852229
* community/forums/posts/853519 ??
* community/forums/posts/886032 ??
* community/forums/posts/891900 (see: community/forums/posts/892050)
* community/forums/posts/909616
* community/forums/posts/918336
* community/forums/posts/919737
* community/forums/posts/925269
* community/forums/posts/930369
* community/forums/posts/931778
* community/forums/posts/953391
* community/forums/posts/956734
* community/forums/posts/965818
* community/forums/posts/967104
* community/forums/posts/972055
* community/forums/posts/979024
* community/forums/posts/982139
* community/forums/posts/1015052
* community/forums/posts/1024545
* community/forums/posts/1017177
* community/forums/posts/1030528
* community/forums/posts/1039014
* community/forums/posts/1039302
* community/forums/posts/1040562
* community/forums/posts/1043208
* community/forums/posts/1079077
* community/forums/posts/1087729
* community/forums/posts/232852
* community/forums/posts/236325
* community/forums/posts/325189
* community/forums/posts/325194
* community/forums/posts/337276
* community/forums/posts/343137
* community/forums/posts/437262
* community/forums/posts/470372
* community/forums/posts/470399
* community/forums/posts/496990
* community/forums/posts/501673
* community/forums/posts/503539
* community/forums/posts/525712
* community/forums/posts/529294
* community/forums/posts/535463
* community/forums/posts/538629
* community/forums/posts/567962 ??
* community/forums/posts/569094
* community/forums/posts/582088
* community/forums/posts/585328
* community/forums/posts/585333
* community/forums/posts/585341
* community/forums/posts/629453
* community/forums/posts/661828
* community/forums/posts/678813
* community/forums/posts/691405
* community/forums/posts/720367
* community/forums/posts/731985
* community/forums/posts/754484
* community/forums/posts/767550
* community/forums/posts/783118
* community/forums/posts/790303
* community/forums/posts/793410
* community/forums/posts/818951
* community/forums/posts/824197
* community/forums/posts/829970
* community/forums/posts/831825
* community/forums/posts/832620
* community/forums/posts/841454
* community/forums/posts/847877
* community/forums/posts/848934
* community/forums/posts/851754
* community/forums/posts/852229
* community/forums/posts/853519 ??
* community/forums/posts/886032 ??
* community/forums/posts/891900 (see: community/forums/posts/892050)
* community/forums/posts/909616
* community/forums/posts/918336
* community/forums/posts/919737
* community/forums/posts/925269
* community/forums/posts/930369
* community/forums/posts/931778
* community/forums/posts/953391
* community/forums/posts/956734
* community/forums/posts/965818
* community/forums/posts/967104
* community/forums/posts/972055
* community/forums/posts/979024
* community/forums/posts/982139
* community/forums/posts/1015052
* community/forums/posts/1024545
* community/forums/posts/1017177
* community/forums/posts/1030528
* community/forums/posts/1039014
* community/forums/posts/1039302
* community/forums/posts/1040562
* community/forums/posts/1043208
* community/forums/posts/1079077
* community/forums/posts/1087729
So when did people start posting dancing anime girls in threads then? And that's when I stumbled across the TRUTH. First, the dancing anime BIRTHDAY thread tradition is a twisting of OT's TRUE history by that muscle seagull. People indeed have never consistently put dancing girl anime gifs in birthday threads in ye olden days. In fact, that was not even a thing until the Fag Era. Two posts by Ephemeral rewrote OT's culture and hid its true traditions. The offending posts?
Here is a list of birthday threads before and after. The difference is striking!
No dancing anime girls on birthday threads:
* community/forums/posts/5756222
* community/forums/posts/5755587
* community/forums/posts/5838247
* community/forums/posts/5888152
* community/forums/posts/5893176
* community/forums/posts/5948094
* community/forums/posts/5982363
* community/forums/posts/5998392
Ephemeral makes post
* community/forums/posts/6042485
Sudden dancing anime girls on birthday threads:
* community/forums/posts/6043587
* community/forums/posts/6055546
* community/forums/posts/6067988
* community/forums/posts/6069173
* community/forums/posts/6080414
Why did the seagull migrate south?
Ephemeral performed and 2-strike K.O. to the tradition. First strike was the post threatening exile, compelling denizens of the day to conform. Second strike was writing the rule in stone for future-born denizens to see. This was written into stone once more in osu!'s official rules during the old web -> new web transition:Was it done on purpose, and if so, why? Luckily, I gathered valuable intel regarding this a few months back when I ran a joint mission with TicClick here. Snooping to the backroom dealing of the osu!wiki discussion I came across this peculiar conversation. This gave me insight as to what might went on in advance.Off-Topic Rules wrote:
Birthday threads are allowed only in Off-Topic, and nowhere else. All birthday threads must be accompanied with no less than three (3) images of dancing anime girls or they will be ruthlessly thrown under a bus.
Ephemeralis wrote:
also all of them are salient rules and not at all jokes, save for the anime girl inclusion in birthday threads (which is tradition more than anything)
How can this be a tradition if there is evidence it was never a tradition? It seems he genuinely believes it is a tradition.
Here is what I think has happened. Ephemeral was removed so long from OT he has since forgotten some aspects of it. Being a busy admin as he is, with many things floating in, out, through, and around his mind, it is quite easy to mix things up. He remembers there was an anime dancing girl tradition, but not the context of it. In the heat of the moment of that fateful day in B1rd's birthday thread, he asserted the tradition as he thought he remembered, and thereon applied it in its written form.
Mystery solved!
except... wait...
If he thought there was a tradition, what was it actually?
Let's dance
So now I had to begin the search all over once more. It was like searching for a nugget of gold among all the crap pile of shit those animals left behind. I have about seen the most bizarre war crimes of the past, and the most insane displays of humor right violations. Ah, but found it at last I did.The tradition was not birthday threads, it was goodbye and welcome threads. It's a running joke you can't quit osu!, so it makes sense people would derail those threads.
goodbye threads
* community/forums/posts/1619894
* community/forums/posts/1620115
* community/forums/posts/1641838
* community/forums/posts/1658335
* community/forums/posts/1691362
* community/forums/posts/1693112
* community/forums/posts/1719306
* community/forums/posts/1738092
* community/forums/posts/1758173
* community/forums/posts/1762498
* community/forums/posts/1804144
* community/forums/posts/1992477
* community/forums/posts/2518566
* community/forums/posts/1620115
* community/forums/posts/1641838
* community/forums/posts/1658335
* community/forums/posts/1691362
* community/forums/posts/1693112
* community/forums/posts/1719306
* community/forums/posts/1738092
* community/forums/posts/1758173
* community/forums/posts/1762498
* community/forums/posts/1804144
* community/forums/posts/1992477
* community/forums/posts/2518566
But why dancing anime girl gifs? This is where my investigation comes to a roadblock. Time is not kind enough to preserve the old. Ancient ruins of olden OT have limited existing records of events of those days. The surviving stone tablets I did find suggest the denizens of those days were infatuated by dancing lolis to the point they made it a running joke to derail threads with them.
Some artifacts in those threads were collected for examination. Evidence suggests that certain gifs were standard issue in denizens' shitposting arsenal of those time. Those include:
This is where I shall now retire. I leave it up to detectives greater than I will ever be to pick this mystery up where I will now leave it, and finish what I could not. Perhaps an ancient fossil may rise once more to share the tales lost to time. One could only hope as much.
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